Widening Out With a Fiesta

We had our CO visit this week and he said something that made me think.  We are working really hard for our English group to become a congregation.  He said that when the change does finally happen, it should be bitter sweet, not a relief.  I go through my ups and downs of frustration in trying to learn Spanish so admittedly, the thought of total English would be a relief.  Hey I haven't totally understood special needs or announcements in 8 months! But  it's true I will miss having the best of both worlds when and if the split does happen. I had been thinking of different ways to reach out to our Spanish speaking brothers for awhile so, I figured, why not have a little gathering.  One of the families in English had a gathering to practice the new songs and it went really well, so I decided to do the same.  Here are some of the pictures!

Eliezer printed bible search-a-word puzzles

Eliam made sure everyone was clear on the rules.

More games!

Ruth came early to help me.  

She and Eliam decided sunglasses would keep the onions from making them cry :-) 

Setting up for another game

I was on a tight budget so we decided to serve hot dogs.  But, lots more people started to show up than expected so what did we do to stretch the food?  Cut the hotdogs lengthwise in half! 

In teams playing bible trivia

Hurry, I wanna win this one!

Cook faster!

Everybody loves UNO!

Me in the background playing hostess.

I think the hot dogs went over well :-)

To end the night, Nazareth played her viola and we sang our favorite Kindgdom Melodies.  

She is very talented.

Everyone is a critic!

Some of the brothers got a little shy when it came time for them to sing on their own :-)

My Moment of Shame

Last week, I made an embarrassing mistake at a meeting.  I knew something was wrong when I got a call from our school overseer at 9:30 PM the night before our service meeting.  It seems that there was a mistake in the date he had written on the slip he had given me for a talk.  Instead of my talk being next week, it was tomorrow.  Being the procrastinator I am with talks, I hadn't even looked over it yet.  I decided to stay in from service the next morning to write it out.  That night, I was more nervous than normal, trembling when I had to stand up.  The talk went well though....or so I thought.  After the meeting, some of my friends couldn't wait to tell me what I had unknowingly done in my talk.  Although the talk was in English, I threw in a few commonly used Spanish terms.  Well, it seems that one of the terms I used, although innocent here in Nicaragua, is one of the worse curse words you can use in surrounding areas.  We had some visiting friends who were shocked to here me use the term in the talk.  To make matters worse I said it not once.....but twice......AND the Circuit Overseer was in the second row.  Shining moment, indeed.

Memorial Season!!

This is THE most important time of the year!  The time when we commemorate the single greatest act of love ever shown- Christ dying for us.  The memorial of Christ's death was recognized on April 17th this year.  I got back to Granada right as the memorial campaign began.  Lots of wonderful things have been happening in Granada since I've been gone--studies are up, we have a few more permanent brothers here.  I am so excited to be back.  When I went to sleep my first night back, I fell asleep with a huge smile on my face anxious to start letting people know about the upcoming commemoration.  I was not the only one excited.  For the duration of the campaign we were all in a ridiculously good mood!  We all decided to give up our normal rest day during the week to get as much territory done as possible.  This is the hottest time of year in Granada with temperatures well over 100 degrees everyday.  We worked all day breaking only for lunch and continued until the sun set.  We were tired and sore but even more excited at the end of each day!  About half way through, the brothers realized that we had a chance of doing something that had never been accomplished- covering all of our territory (the entire city of Granada).  Spurred on by the challenge (and the promise of ice cream!) we pushed and succeeded in giving English invitations to the entire city.  I've never worked so hard or been so happy during a memorial campaign!
We had another first this year...a sound truck.  We got permission to sit at a local park and distribute invitations and truth tracts while a recording boomed in the background, like the olden days!  We got an immediate response.  Even people in shops several streets over heard the recording inviting everyone to the memorial.  On the days we where not out, people wanted to know why we weren't giving "life's waters free."  An excellent witness was given and I don't think a single English speaker in the city could say they were unaware of the memorial commemoration!  For more on Jehovah's Witnesses increased activity this month click here.

 Witnessing at the park

We got a flat tire one afternoon from carrying so many people in the truck but, Bob fixed it in 5 minutes and we kept right on going till the sun went down!

 Man reading his invitation

Hey!  Do you speak English??!!

The night of the memorial we had almost 70 people in attendance.  Jehovah blessed our efforts!

 I woke up with knots in my stomach thinking of what happened on this day so many years ago.  But, as the evening drew closer I couldn't help but smile at the thought of all of our brothers and sisters earthwide who would be gathering to show their appreciation for such an incredible sacrifice.  Thanks to everyone around the world who sent me messages that morning.  Our thoughts were with you all too! 

First study to arrive.  Well actually, that's not totally true.  We met to go into the ministry at 8:00AM the day of the memorial and when we arrived, there was a bible study there.  He though the commemoration service was at 7:00 AM instead of 7:00 PM.  He arrived at 6:30 AM and was still anxiously waiting when we arrived at 8:00AM.  He was all smiles when he realized the mixup and promised to come back.  Sure enough, he was back at 6:30 PM still excited!  

We all arrived an hour or more early filled with excitement.

 Sister Dexter

 The hall we rented

Shelina and I.  Shelina is with the sign language group who met before us.  Two of the sisters I live with made the dress I'm wearing based on a picture I showed them. 

 Two of the people I invited

 More studies

 Alexander and Michelle

The brothers-relaxed after the meeting

Long Ride Home to Granada

Fortunately, our trek back to Granada was uneventful.  The key word as always was flexibility.  Our first boat got to Bluefields three hours late and most of our other connections were off by hours but it was all part of the adventure!  All in all, the journey took 26 hours.  We got to Managua too late for a bus but the brothers from Granada made the one hour journey to get us without any hesitation.  Gotta love the brothers!

Our first boat was a commercial boat called "Captain D."  Apparently, it used to be a Coast Guard ship.  We got on the boat at 10PM and pulled out at midnight.  I was exhausted when we got on but then I got all giddy at being on a "real live boat".  We payed the extra dollar or two for bunks and were provided with sheets.  They were shared rooms with lots of people and no door.  We were in one of the first bunks so everyone had to pass us to get to theirs.  Everytime someone would come by, I'd try to look cool but as soon as they left, I was back to giggling and taking pictures lol.  No motion sickness on this boat, either!

No idea what that is...I just thought it looked cool!

Christi called the bottom bunk

Me nervously climbing into the top bunk.  I'm number 3, yay!

Too excited to go to sleep!

Leaving Captin D behind for a smaller boat on the next leg of the trip.

On a smaller speed boat for the next part of the journey.  Everyone was exhausted.

Dropping a lady at her house.

Weeee!